OTHER WAYS TO CREATE WORDS
Other Ways English Creates New Words
We already looked at the three most common methods: affixation (adding prefixes/suffixes), compounding (joining words), and conversion (changing a word’s job without changing its form).
Here are several other useful (but slightly less common) ways English makes new words:
1. Back-formation
This is like the opposite of adding a suffix. You remove part of a word (usually a suffix) to create a new word — most often turning a noun into a verb.
Examples:
burglar (noun) → burgle (verb)
emotion (noun) → emote (verb)
television (noun) → televise (verb)
Sometimes it doesn’t even change the word class:
biceps → bicep (people now say “one bicep”)
2. Clipping (Shortening)
You simply cut a long word down to a shorter, easier version. It stays the same word class (usually noun) but becomes more casual and friendly.
Examples:
credibility → cred
family → fam
mashed potato → mash
telephone → phone
Glastonbury Festival → Glasto
avocado → avo
Many modern clippings end with an -o sound (combo, parmo, avo). Clipping feels informal and shows the word is used a lot in daily life.
3. Blending (Portmanteau Words)
You merge parts of two different words to make one new word.
Examples:
breakfast + lunch = brunch
smoke + fog = smog
glamorous + camping = glamping
video + blog = vlog
British + exit = Brexit
Some blends are easy to guess (like brunch), but others (like bit = binary + digit) are harder to notice.
4. Acronyms & Initialisms
You take the first letter(s) of each word in a phrase to make a short new word.
True acronyms (pronounced as a normal word):
radar = Radio Detection And Ranging
scuba = Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
NASA, AIDS, PIN
Initialisms (you say each letter separately):
BBC, ATM, BLT, BMI
These are very useful for technical, scientific, and organisational names.
5. Eponymy (Naming after a Person)
Using a person’s name to describe an object or action they invented or made famous.
Examples:
sandwich (named after the Earl of Sandwich)
hoover (= vacuum cleaner, from the Hoover company)
wellington (boots)
diesel (the fuel/engine)
6. Onomatopoeia
Words that sound like the noise they describe.
Examples:
miaow, crash, buzz, splash
(Note: these sounds differ between languages — English cats say “miaow”, but it’s different in other languages!)
7. Reduplication
You repeat (or almost repeat) part of the word. It often sounds playful.
Examples:
Full repetition: no-no, busy-busy, choo-choo
With small changes: flip-flop, helter-skelter, hip-hop, mumbo-jumbo
Often used with children or when being funny/sarcastic.
8. Loanwords (Borrowing)
English simply “borrows” words from other languages and adds them to its vocabulary.
Many older borrowings are now so normal we forget they came from elsewhere (e.g. words from French, Latin, Old Norse). Recent examples:
sushi (Japanese)
tortilla (Spanish)
anorak (Inuit)
feng-shui, manga, Sudoku (Japanese)
glasnost (Russian)
uber (German)
Quick Overview:
English is very creative! Besides the big three (affixation, compounding, conversion), it also uses back-formation, clipping, blending, acronyms, eponyms, onomatopoeia, reduplication, and borrowing to keep making new words all the time.
